WB Debuts Two 30 Second Spots for Legend of Tarzan: “Evil Spirit” and “He is Tarzan”

Warner Bros. has two 30 second TV spots that are up on the internet now. Have not seen them on television. Here they are.

Two quick initial thoughts:

It’s about damned time.

Very interesting that they are using the voice of Jane as the equivalent of a narrator’s track. It softens it a little, and boosts the romance, or “romantic adventure” aspect of it. It also makes sure that everyone knows Margot Robbie is not just a sidekick in this version of Tarzan. I think this is good – I’m assuming they’ve tested it and gotten good reactions to it.

UPDATE

Here is the fan trailer by Youtuber Warfighter 268 we posted a few weeks back. Hmmmm….. pretty similar but there are subtleties in this one that make me like it a little better than either of the WB trailers. I’m not hating on those trailers — but this feels grander, less rushed, more magical . . . .

UPDATE 2

Is this Tarzan in a loin cloth? Is it a flashback or “present day” in the story?

Mark Bulley replied · 1 Reply
Michael Sellers
Michael Sellers Thanks Mark. Please let me know if you see anything. Have heard nothing yet about it being played on TV, but obviously it will be.
Like · Reply · May 15 at 8:36pm
Mark Bulley
Mark Bulley will try to…
Unlike · Reply · 1 · May 15 at 8:44pm
Maaz Mohiuddin
Maaz Mohiuddin There’s a brief bit at the end of the second TV spot where it says “tonight” and gets cut off. Looked like one of those talk shows. If anyone can guess which one that is, maybe you’ll see it again during that show.
Like · Reply · 1 · May 15 at 9:05pm
Michael Goodwin
Michael Goodwin Have not seen any of these, but my wife said she saw one last Sunday night during last episode of Scandal.
Like · Reply · May 16 at 4:43am
Geary Gravel
Geary Gravel Yes! “Evil spirit” is the one I saw in the midst of the Amazing Race finale, on CBS this past Friday night at 8 PM.
Like · Reply · 1 · May 16 at 4:52am
Michael Shaw
Michael Shaw Yes saw it Friday night while watching Grim..”He is Tarzan”.
Like · Reply · May 16 at 6:45am
Thomas A. Simmons
Thomas A. Simmons Nothing here yet in the Denver area.
Like · Reply · May 16 at 7:59am
Michael Sellers
Michael Sellers Thank you for the “field reports” wink emoticon Much appreciated and please chime in if you see it.
Like · Reply · May 16 at 10:36am
Maaz Mohiuddin
Maaz Mohiuddin BTW, Michael Sellers I think you should do an analysis of the views and likes etc. that LOT trailers have gotten on Facebook (if you haven’t already). I’ve seen you and others talk about YouTube and Twitter (especially Box Office Pro) but nobody ever seems to talk about Facebook.

Also, the official LOT FB page has just uploaded the first TV spot in HD.
Like · Reply · 1 · May 16 at 10:38am
Andrew McLean
Andrew McLean Yeah, it’s up now in HD. Fun make-up detail: Lord Greystoke has scars:
Andrew McLean’s photo.
Like · Reply · 2 · May 16 at 11:38am
Scott Tracy Griffin
Scott Tracy Griffin My mom saw it on TV Friday in northeast MS. Said she wasn’t paying close attention, and didn’t realize that it was the Tarzan trailer until the end, but that it looked like a movie she’d like to see (she’s 80!)
Like · Reply · 8 · May 16 at 1:29pm

Mark Bulley replied · 1 Reply
Thomas A. Simmons
Thomas A. Simmons Impressed by both spots – this is gonna be very, very good, people!
Like · Reply · 2 · May 16 at 3:06pm · Edited
Will Streckfus
Will Streckfus I like both 👍. I also like that she’s telling the story. She’s a major player in this story.
Like · Reply · 1 · May 16 at 5:36pm
Will Streckfus
Will Streckfus Now after watching both more than a dozen times each, I have to say I prefer the “Evil Spirit” version. I love the movie magic of de-aging Jane and having her look up and up. Then she proceeds to tell whoever that her husband is coming to kick his ass. At least that’s how I took it. The other one has that cheesy “he’s Tarzan you’re Jane” kind of bugs me. Other than that 👍👍
Like · Reply · 1 · May 16 at 8:48pm

Will Streckfus replied · 2 Replies
Maaz Mohiuddin
Maaz Mohiuddin One thing I like in that evil spirit spot is that after she says “will you speak to me?” and you see Tarzan looking at her, the next shot of her, the camera sort of rises high above her – and this reminds me of what someone from a test screening said, that in the flashback scenes Tarzan is made to look larger than life.
Like · Reply · 1 · May 16 at 8:50pm · Edited
Will Streckfus
Will Streckfus Yes, I think I remember that article. The way I think of it is Tarzan’s around 18 and at his ultimate prime. Imagine a college athlete and their future self 8 years from now. Lucky it looks like Tarzan’s not in awful shape.
Like · Reply · May 16 at 8:59pm
Maaz Mohiuddin
Maaz Mohiuddin Looks like they’re doing a different meeting between Jane and Tarzan than in the book.
Like · Reply · May 16 at 9:02pm

Jesse Johnson replied · 2 Replies
Will Streckfus
Will Streckfus The screenwriters avoid one of the many coincidences that seems to happen in an ERB tail. Two ships pirated and letting their captives off at the exact same spot, and it instantly makes her a stronger character. I see their logic and it makes sense to me.
Like · Reply · 3 · May 17 at 4:06pm
Michael Sellers
Michael Sellers Some changes seem to be changes for change sake; others are purposeful and make sense. So far I think this is most likely the latter. I’m sure that when they looked at this, they thought of certain potential pitfalls that would get them in trouble wi…See More
Like · Reply · 4 · May 17 at 4:12pm
Mark Bulley
Mark Bulley they’ll have to change the title to LOT 2016 to differentiate the views and values from 1916 … lol !!
Like · Reply · May 17 at 5:13pm
Michael Sellers
Michael Sellers Any more sightings of this on TV?
Like · Reply · 18 hrs
Michael Goodwin
Michael Goodwin Tons of everything else for summer movies coming out – EXCEPT LOT.
Like · Reply · 18 hrs

AND FROM ANOTHER FACEBOOK GROUP

Michael Sellers Anybody see this on TV yet?
Like · Reply · May 15 at 8:27pm
Scott Jones
Scott Jones Have not seen on TV yet….but it looks fantastic!
Like · Reply · May 16 at 5:27am
Kyle Kepulis
Kyle Kepulis I saw one during the “Amazing Race” finale. Looks fantastic!
Like · Reply · May 16 at 5:39am
Danny Harbison
Danny Harbison I’ve seen it when I went to Captain America Civil War. It was the ONLY movie for which they showed a trailer I have ANY interest in seeing. I’m just wondering if they’re going to have the Tarzan from the novels being an educated man speaking properly…See More
Like · Reply · 1 · May 16 at 6:08am
Kyle Kepulis
Kyle Kepulis Since the trailer shows Tarzan in a suit at one point I expect we’re getting the educated Tarzan. It is interesting that we haven’t heard him speak yet in any promos that I’m aware of.
Like · Reply · May 16 at 6:10am
Alan Broz
Alan Broz I’ve seen the first 2 trailers, but am afraid to watch any new ones. My sister and I have loved Tarzan for over 50 years (each!), and both of us reserved a day of vacation on July 1st (we’ve planned this since last December) to go watch it together. I’m at the point of not wanting any spoilers to take away from the fun. This could possibly be the best movie day ever!
Like · Reply · 2 · May 16 at 9:33am
Michael Sellers
Michael Sellers Any more sightings of the trailer on TV?
Like · Reply · 18 hrs
Don Kraar
Don Kraar Ever the skeptic, I have to admit that I’m getting more & more anxious to see it! Frankly, I feel burned by many of the purported Tarzan movies over the years. Yet, this time I can honestly say I feel hopeful!
Unlike · Reply · 3 · 17 hrs
Alan Broz
Alan Broz Don Kraar, I know exactly what you mean. I tried to keep my hopes down, but it’s just not possible. At this point, if it’s not great I’m going to be very disappointed.
Like · Reply · 13 hrs

Yes,in the second TV shot ,you see Jane in the opening and Tarzan’s eye hidden in the bushes. This is the younger version of Tarzan and Jane, which is told in flashback in the film. Alex said in an interview at Cinema Con that they had two young actors do the scene and then he and Margot did it and they superimposed them, then they youthened his and Margot’s faces via a computer technique. The scene where it looks like Tarzan is wearing a loincloth also shows him with much longer hair,indicating he is younger( i.e. before he left the jungle with Jane. )It may be a loincloth but it also maybe shorts. Some viewers say it’s shorts and it looks like shorts to me as well.

Finally the buzz has started in the comments section of the TV spot on the Facebook site ( Legend of Tarzan ) with 1.9 mil views since Monday. I scanned the comments and most of the comments are very positive with just a view ridiculous ones like ” Tarzan should be black, where are his dreads, and this is awful or terrible CGI.” The True Blood fans are finally realizing that Eric Northman( Skarsgard) is Tarzan and they are very exited to see go and see this film. It seems that many of them were not going to the theater to see the kind of movies that had LOT as a trailer ( Star Wats,Batman v Supermsn,Captain America, the Huntsman),but once they saw the TV spot and they are all in. Hopefully someone from the WB marketing team is monitoring the responses and will take note.

On the question of Tarzan speaking,according Skarsgard ,in a translated article in Cosmopolitan Russia ,Tarzan speaks with a British accent. Skarsgard worked really hard for this role. Not only did he have a physical trainer and a special diet but he had a language coach,an animal behaviorist and a choreographer,who he worked with daily for 8 months. It sounds like Yates was very interested in a getting this Tarzan right down to his movements that are animalistic.

Being very picky about that article, but he says the British accent is in the script, but that doesn’t mean it necessarily translated to his having a full-on British accent in the movie. And that wouldn’t be surprising, even after having lived there a few years. Jane’s an American, and presumably he learned the language from her, and obviously still is influenced by her accent.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s ‘vaguely’ English in terms of accent, but even more so in his manner of speaking.
It’ll be interesting to see how he actually sounds in the movie, once WB gets around to letting us hear his voice. Alex has said he usually keeps his accents until learning a different one, and he didn’t keep whatever accent he had for LOT. He kept remnants of his Straw Dogs accent for sometime after filming. I wish journalists would ask him about his accent in LOT, instead of nakedness and loincloths.

I know that there was a tweet during August of 2014 from a Brit who said that Alex had an accent and that it was fine, which is good if he does have an accent. But I think he’s the only one who’s mentioned it. So if he has one in the film it was good enough not to be criticized by those who’ve seen screenings (at least much improved over the one he had for the flashback in True Blood in S6). Or they went with the sort of non-descript vaguely British/English manner of speaking with some hint of an accent. He’s mentioned before that he has some difficulty with accents, or that the’re not that easy for him, so I’ve been intrigued by what direction, accent-wise, they went with.

The Tarzan Files and The John Carter Files are independent web resources for history, commentary, and criticism purposes, and are not owned, sponsored by, or affiliated with any third party including Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc, Warner Bros Studios, or DIsney. For a full discussion of the Nominative Fair Use legal framework under which the sites operate, please see the "Legal" page.